Spotlight on Catherine Dean

18 April 2013

This week the spotlight is on Catherine
Dean, Events
Manager, UCL
Communications and Marketing.

What is
your role and what does it involve?

I am an
Events Manager in the UCL Corporate Events team and look after a range of
high-profile functions including the recent opening of the new UCL Institute of
Making. I also manage the well-known free public Lunch Hour Lectures which run
twice a week in term time and go ‘on tour’ each summer.

How long
have you been at UCL and what was your previous role?

I’ve been at UCL for just over a year and my previous jobs have
included events and marketing roles at The Schools Network, NESTA and Amnesty
International.

What
working achievement or initiative are you most proud of?

I really enjoyed planning the opening of the Octagon Gallery last
November as I got to work alongside colleagues from Museums and Collections,
Libraries and Estates to organise a great celebration of a brand new space
right in the heart of UCL.

Tell us about a project you are
working on now which is top of you to-do list?

My priority
at the moment is preparing to take the Lunch Hour Lectures ‘on tour’ to the
Museum of London where we’ll be holding four talks on Tuesdays in June.
Collaborating with the Museum of London is a new partnership and I’m excited to
take the talks somewhere new with a really great line-up of UCL speakers (more
info: www.ucl.ac.uk/lhlontour).

What is your favourite album, film
and novel?

I’m an
English Lit grad and so am evangelical about Middlemarch. I love Robert Altman
and my favourite film of his is probably The Long Goodbye.

What is your favourite joke
(pre-watershed)?

Why did the
monkey fall out of the tree? Because it was dead.

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

Caitlin
Moran, Larry Elliott, Barack Obama and Dolly Parton.

What advice would you give your
younger self?

Not to
worry too much about the future and to get on with working hard and playing
hard!

What would it surprise people to
know about you?

I once had
a gun pointed at me while on my gap year in Brazil. Long story, not recommended
for any nervous parents of A level students.